ABO’s youth league, Qeerroo Bilisummaa, says it’s the organizer of the October 2017 peaceful (nonviolent) rallies across Oromia. On its Facebook page, Qeerroo Bilisummaa Oromoo, the youth group shares video clips of the daily rallies; the video clips are compiled herein (watch below) for documentation purposes.

The rallies have been peaceful (nonviolent); most of the rally-goers have been seen carrying the Oromo Liberation Front’s (OLF’s) flag of “red-green-red,” which, through time, has become a symbol of the Oromo nationalism in the resistance struggle against the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF aka Woyane), the party of ethnic Tigreans who have dominated the Ethiopian federal government since its formation in 1991.

In their chants, the rally-goers have expressed their support for the OLF and denounced the TPLF/Woyane; in some instances, they have also expressed their support for the current administration, led by Mr. Lemma Megersa, of the Oromia National Regional State; Mr. Lemma Megersa’s administration uses pro-Oromummaa and pro-Ethiopianist nationalist rhetoric to garner support from all sectors of Oromian citizens, and beyond.

In some of the clips, the participants have also called on the TPLF government to release all political prisoners, including Dr. Merera Gudina and Mr. Bekele Gerba, leaders of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC). Known as “Qeerroo” for short, ABO’s youth wing, the National Youth Movement for Freedom and Democracy (NYMFD), announced its formation in April 2011.

Among its demands are: (1) the end of military rule of TPLF in Oromia and other oppressed regions, such as Ogadenia and Sidama-land; (2) the unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners; (3) the confiscation of all TPLF-owned conglomerates; (4) the immediate termination of the land-grabbing policy; (5) the removal of the TPLF-dominated government and its replacement by a Transitional Government of national liberation movements, and opposition and civic groups.

Qeerroo calls the current movement “Fincila Xumura Gabrummaa (FXG),” meaning: Revolt to End National Slavery [of the Oromo Nation]. The youth group has regular radio transmissions in Afaan Oromoo and Amharic to Oromia/Ethiopia.